John Hopkins

This is a short history of Sir Francis Drake.

The man, who will one day become known as Queen Elizabeth's favorite pirate, begins life near Tavistock in Devon, southwest England.

Despite his later fame, many of the facts of his early life still lie beyond the grasp of historians.

Hannah Cusworth is curator of the Atlantic at Royal Museums, Greenwich.

The family do not remain in Devon for long.

Around 1548, they're forced to move to Kent.

Competing narratives have sprung up to explain this sudden flight.

but recently uncovered documents show that Edmund Drake later received a royal pardon for his role in a 1548 fracas and robbery, suggesting this as a likely explanation for the family's relocation.

There is no doubt, however, that the religious tensions of the time are formative to Francis' childhood and adolescence in Kent.

Henry VIII's break with the Catholic Church occurred shortly before Francis' birth, but during his teenage years, Mary I takes England back into the Roman fold.

Then, after her death, the accession of her younger sister Elizabeth sees the firm restoration of Protestantism, the faith to which Francis Drake will cleave.

As with his childhood, a precise picture of Drake's early manhood and training as a sailor is hard to paint precisely.

He seems to have learned the trade that will make him famous both in Kent and back in Devon.

The Hawkins family are kin to the Drakes, and their patriarch, William Hawkins, is a renowned trader and seafarer, the first Englishman to sail to Brazil.

Drake likely gains experience as a mariner alongside William's sons, but this upbringing imbues him with more than the practicalities of sailing.

On land he is taught to read, write, and count.

At sea he is exposed to people from a variety of backgrounds, and he learns to discuss trade, politics, and foreign affairs, and to dress, talk, and act like a gentleman.

These are lessons that Drake, an ambitious social climber, readily absorbs.

It is from the 1560s that we can chart Francis Drake's movements with greater certainty.

In this decade, he sails on a series of voyages commanded by his older relative, John Hawkins.